Archive for category life
2010 in Photographs
1. As I labeled it as ‘craziest experience of my life’ – my first Scuba dive at Florida Keys. Sounds awesome till now, but coldest weather conditions in recorded history of Florida did not help the dive. Foggy and choppy sea, with a brave captain on board was too much to handle. But I am glad I did it.
2. Cold condition did not leave us till March. This Spring Break trip to Round Bald was supposed to be full of Sun, but a hike in snow played the spoil sport. Amazing view from the top was enough to forget about the cold.
3. A hurried trip of NY and CT in late March was planned to meet an old friend. Lots of catching up and entrepreneurial talk during four days, helped me prepare mentally for the road ahead.
4. A surprise (for me) visit to Virginia International Raceway was amazing. Thanks to close friends who planned this. It was marred by the crazy accident I had and first words I uttered after recovery – Karting, never again!
5. First double century in ODI was one of the highest points of 2010. This showed cricketing world that even after 21 years Sachin Tendulkar has not lost his touch with the game. His golden run continued throughout the year and he strengthened batting records further.
6. Finally graduation! I had set a goal for myself 3 years back and got it done. Felt great to have learned something new. Two years in Virginia Tech not only helped me gain new perspective but gave me a very close set of friends.
7. Trip back home. Another goal I had set for myself was to come back to India and start on my own. Gladly I could stick to that promise as well.
8. A set of friends decided to get married around at same time. This demanded the trip to Kerala. Those 21 days were a lot of fun and multiple get togethers helped bring our memories back from engineering days.
9. Our first workshop. First big step for our venture was successful workshop and we achieved that with great testimonials.
An Update
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
– Douglas Adams
It’s been twenty months since I landed in US and just over a month left before I leave. Planning to come here has been going on for much longer, the main goal was to understand the American perspective of business, to experience the land of opportunities and figure out what makes this place most innovative in the world. MBA here was part of the plan, but not the only thing in mind, interacting with people and learning as much as possible was primary aim. I am not disappointed that I could not get a major in entrepreneurship, but I compensated for it by taking three concentrations.
I think the goal is achieved, learning is a continuous process but at one point one has to decide that its time to implement and learn from experience. That time has come, my two long term goals – to start my own company and to locate very close to home, seem to be close to realization. Next month after graduation, I am heading to Ahmedabad to start a ‘Knowledge Solutions’ venture with two of my friends. This venture brings both fields that I love – Computer Science and Learning, together. We plan to build simulators for learning and teach different aspects of businesses to various sets of managers.
Business plan is made, ideas brainstormed and we are ready for the challenges. Lets see where it goes from here!
Know Your Food
Today I watched Food, Inc. and that triggered this post. Coming from India I see food in a different perspective, a nation where poverty is the main problem and almost half of ![food-inc[1]](http://veetrag.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/foodinc1.jpg "food-inc[1]")
the population struggles to get both meals a day. A country which has the highest malnutrition (215+ million people) in world, food to all seems to be the biggest challenge. Then we have another set of problems related to food – adulteration and excessive usage of chemicals in farming.
When I came to US, the first thing I noticed was the prosperity and then in few days I was introduced to Wal Mart. This gave me an impression that at least this country doesn’t have problems in this area. Then I met few friends who introduced me to different set of issues that most people are unaware of. They gave me a comprehensive idea of how most of the food is prepared. At first I did not see it as problem, I thought of it as efficient use of technology. When they explained all the aspects I was surprised to find out about cruelty to animals and other ways in which food was prepared. This was not end of story, this form of preparation promoted unhealthy eating practices. Then the question was why still people don’t change? Answer was simple – lack of awareness and low cost. And here it comes back to similar problem as India- to prepare food at lower costs. In India the problem magnifies as enforcement of food related laws is not proper.
This movie provides the same insight in terms of how technology advancement has solved some temporary issues but can lead to tragic issues later. It talks about how chicken and cow are bred, kind of environment they live in, how they are used in assembly line, how genetic engineering has changed the life cycle of animals and how animals are grown specific to human taste. They further extend this approach to corn, soybean and other agriculture products and its impact on humans. Basic idea of the movie is to show how food is engineered to human needs with maximum efficiency and at lowest cost. Movie also talks about law reform needed to improve conditions and what we can do to help not only ourselves but environment as well. It’s a terrifying expose of food industry but sends a deeper message – how our habits as a consumers have degraded the way we live and that message is more important to me.
This movie is an eye opener for normal people like us who have no idea what goes behind the food counter. This should also be a lesson to developing countries on how to tackle food problems. More than 50% of world population has food related issues, we need to come up with better ways to resolve the problem rather than taking the same approach. I do not know what that approach will be but I like what one of the message from the movie – “Eat at home instead of eating out.” and “Make a point to know where your food comes from—READ LABELS.” I would recommend this movie to everyone, because awareness is the first step and always helps.
On the same topic I have another recommendation, in the form of book this time – Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health.
Update: I received many queries about me being still vegetarian and if yes, how does it impact me? I am still a vegetarian. It impacts me because I look this from perspective of consumer. How our behavior as consumer has changed over years and how that drives the corporations to change their policies. My perspective was to increase awareness among all, to understand what corporate social responsibility is and how organizations we deal with fare in it.
Hope!
There are two quotes from the movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ about hope that sometimes help me and sometimes makes me nervous. First quote
Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. -Red
and second one
..hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. -Andy Dufresne
I always wonder which one suits me, which one should I live my life with. Whenever it comes to giving advice,suggestion, boosting moral I go with Andy’s quote. But then there are situations in which I am concerned and then I go along with Red, because I hope for a lot of things and when things do not turn out my way, I drive myself insane. Many a times I ask myself which one should I follow, but it seems there is no correct answer, both are at different extremities and as I understand living on extremities is dangerous. I can always take the Middle Path as suggested by Buddha and be happy.
I am able to follow Middle Path for most of things in my life but then there are some circumstances when my expectations are high. With some situations/people I am just too much hopeful. I want some things to go my way and because I trust the people involved in it that I end up hurting myself. I am not a demanding person, as my friends know, I am very flexible but once in a while I change my attitude to demanding and end up hurting myself. My demands are not high and worst part is, I do not understand concerns from other end.
I need to resolve this. I definitely know ‘hope is a good thing’ and I should hope but at the same time be able to control myself. I have created a lot of problems and need to figure out a way to get out of it and I am hopeful to get out of it. I just hope that I should be more understanding and could control my emotions. Will stop here but with the quote that I love the most and I believe is absolutely right.
The highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion. – Richard Feynman
Quiet!
This afternoon I had a nightmare and woke up with panic. This was because of a comment made by a friends few weeks back. [Some content removed. Yes, I am breaking bloggers promise but privacy comes first].
I always try to avoid such situation when on other side. I would never like to say anything that will make any person feel bad in any way. To be able to achieve such thing I try to keep myself away from all such situations and whenever I get angry I keep my mouth shut. I do not utter a single word about why I am angry, what caused it, what I want to do or how I feel about it. This helps me by not hurting other person. When I am calm and I have all the facts in my hand, I can handle the situation properly and take appropriate actions.
Many will disagree with my approach but I go by the philosophy as portrayed in this doha from Kabir -
Aisee Vani Boliye, Mun Ka Aapa Khoye
Apna Tan Sheetal Kare, Auran Ko Sukh Hoye
Translation– Always speak such words, without losing temper that it helps yourself in calming down and other person feels happy.
I make few but good friends and I believe in treasuring them. Their are instances like these which can cause cracks and things may not go back to normal. Thus, I always go quite when angry.
Update: I appreciate the response I got for this post. But to clarify things, this post is just about how I handle situations, not how/what happened to me. Or not about I am blaming someone.
It is my emotional nature that I am portraying and how I like to prevent such situations. Most of the people will forget such comments and that is good, but for me when I am hurt I take my time to heal. I believe in “To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness” and follow it to fullest. My aim is to make everyone happier.
2009: The Year That Was
2009 has been a wonderful year, completing two semesters (MBA Friends, Fall 2009), internship (Baroda et al), a trip to Florida(Disney) and Wisconsin (Midwest), and nice vacation at home. As from links above you can see all have been blogged. Now time for promises I made last year and how did it go?
- Take YAP to newer level and at least have 30 episodes in 2009: This was a disaster. I apologize to all YAP listeners that I was not able to keep the promise. I would not give any excuses or make any promises in this field. I am working on something and when it is time, I will release it out.
- Start running, I don’t want to be a marathon runner but at least want to do 5 KM in a stretch. This goal was achieved on April 16, 2009 when I ran the 3.2 mile Run for Remembrance at Virginia Tech. I was helped by some friends in inspiration to make myself stretch for this kind of run, otherwise it used to be longer but short bursts with walking breaks.
- Learn a lot about photography: This also worked out well, this has been the year with most learning in field of photography. Currently I am fairly confident in shooting sports, nature and can handle wide variety of cameras to shoot specific stuff. Still a long way to go but I am happy with this start. Mostly I shot Basketball, Volleyball and Football this season and all galleries can be found here.
- Reduce weight, at least by 4 kg: This seemed like a hard goal, but ‘running’ and ‘running for photography’ helped a lot. In fact I was able to double the figure and lost 8+ kg. I feel really good about it now and don’t want to push it forward but maintain the same.
- …and learn, learn, learn…. : I learned a lot this year especially in field of management, made a lot of plans and tried to keep my learning to practical purposes. But this is a continuous effort, I should not be satisfied ever and am not. This would be my primary goal for 2010 too.
What next: I will let this picture talk -
![8769863_5efe0b79cc[1]](http://veetrag.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/8769863_5efe0b79cc1.jpg "8769863_5efe0b79cc[1]")
This is not a randomly selected goal but chosen from a set of goals. I believe this is one area where I need to improve. I have noticed that I am patient to most of the people, but when it comes to someone close I am not that tolerant. I get irritated by small issues, my expectations are high and it leads to friction. So I am going to learn to be better friend.
Cultural Differences – India & US
Disclaimer: This post is just about observations, not to judge any person, place or country. Its just my curious nature that is making me write the post, no other intention. These are personal observations, your experience may vary.
When I moved to US for my MBA, I could feel a lot of difference in every way I could think of. I saw a lot of improvement over what I have seen back in India and few times other way around too, but this post is not about those. Its about small observations that I found interesting, human behaviors mostly from cultural perspective.
Biggest difference was regarding ‘assignments’. The emphasis given on assignments was overwhelming, in India this kind of emphasis is given on exams only. Practical nature of assignments combined with team work helps you to learn a lot and reduce pressure from exams. May be practical nature of MBA has a part to play in it. This should be part of ‘education system analysis’ post that I would be publishing soon. Here my point was to drive towards issue of plagiarism. In most of Indian colleges plagiarism is not as strictly monitored as it is in US because of that some Indian students take time to understand the implications. Many learn in first month and few people take few semesters to get used to this idea. This leads to a lot of differences while working in teams and lead to rework.
Second difference I found was in newspapers. As I love reading I would go to library and check newspapers, the famous ones that I had only heard about and seen only electronic versions. It was a surprise for me that I did not find much international news. Many a times I noticed 8 page newspaper with 5 pages of sports and 1/4 page of international news. But thankfully in today’s Internet world I get all the news I wanted.
Socializing was another big difference. Classmates usually know about each other, form friends circles before or after class. Here I noticed that very less communication takes place after class, most of socialization happen in bar over drinks. For a teetotaler like me it was hard to adjust to but other form of socializing takes place at sports events. Here my knowledge and appreciation of sports came in handy.
Then there are smaller differences. For example a small help such as sharing book for few hours is considered ‘nothing’ in India, but I learned here its a ‘favor’. Now this changes a lot of things for me, even when it was considered ‘nothing’, I would ask for help rarely but when a big word like ‘favor’ is put in front of it, this shuts down the path for me to ask for any help.
Another example would be the way people say NO. In India we are not used to here ‘no’ if we ask for help, the other person will say ‘no’ in different way, the British way. I remember once I asked a friend for something small and when I got a blunt ‘no’ it came as shock to me. On the other hand Indian ‘Yes’ is different too. I learned this while working with US clients. Indian ‘yes’ refers to ‘honest effort in completing task’ not a commitment to complete.
Similarly, I do not understand the difference between definition of ‘inconvenience’ in these two countries – In India coming 10 minutes late is not inconvenience while here it is, walking 200 feet extra has different meaning too, privacy level in two countries vary tremendously. In India we rarely address people (other than friends and in Infy) by their first name where here it is considered must.
There are a lot of small observation that I have experienced and learned a lot from it. Always trying to gather best of both worlds and that’s why I am here (one of the many reasons). No book or any amount of reading would give me such a rich experience. In this globalized economy this kind of understanding is must for success.
Hofstede quotes – “Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster”. I agree with him completely, few times I had disagreement with a friend over small things because of these differences. But this is the way to learn and I am glad I am here.
Fall 2009
Posted by veetrag in life, virginia tech on December 24, 2009
Exams are over, projects are complete, presentations completed and grades are in, that means finally the time of year I have been waiting for. This has been a tough semester considering the time and effort that needed to be put in. I took some extra credits following my motto of ‘learning’ but it showed me some tough times. Finally its over with a big bang (or snow storm as generally called) and I am happy that I survived well in this.
Most important class for this semester was Acquisition and Alliances, this class gave us a framework to analyze any business. At the beginning of semester, I had no idea how to analyze businesses. My only understanding was from reading a lot of newspapers and blogs, but most of them dealt with hi-tech industry and were not in depth. Professor had to struggle a lot improving us on it, but eventually I have this framework embedded in my head that will help me analyze any business. I would recommend this class to every business student.
Rest of the learning came from projects we did. Most importantly was a business plan to sell Oak Additives. Lesson learned was even a brilliant idea takes tonnes of hard work to realize it. Two of us in team had no idea about wine industry, its making or anything even remotely related to it. But hard work once again came in handy and the plan we submitted was a jewel and the same story continues for rest of projects.
I can call this semester as ‘semester of planning’ because I wrote three plans – Business Plan, Marketing Plan and Project Plan. These plans were very helpful in understanding of what I have learned and how it applies in real life. Best part of these plans/semester was I finally understood how all the things I learned in last two semesters converge to form a proper knowledge body. Now I have understanding of interconnections between different subjects and theories that form foundation of those subjects. I feel finally I have moved from ‘information’ to ‘knowledge’ and final step of ‘wisdom’ is remaining.
Many a times in group projects things got out of control- having a big team, managing everyone’s expectations, setting goals, meeting deadlines, etc. It was very tricky, but as cliche goes ‘in real life we would we working with a lot of different types of people’, so it required a lot of adjustments. Having one good friend in team with who you have complete understanding helps a lot. Not just in adjustments but also helps to clarify goals, to concentrate on goals, to keep on track and sometimes venting out frustration. One friend once reiterated the same by the comment “One needs a friend to survive MBA!”
Overall it was a great semester with great friends. Surely it was not a smooth ride but that’s the joy of ride, who would like to ride a roller coaster which does not have ups and downs. Thanks to all the friends for such learning experience, all the rides in and around campus, wonderful time, memories and being nice.
Lesson I learned
Few days back my mother asked me a question “Since your sister and other cousins are ready to get out of house and face the real world, what is the one thing that would you ask them to do (or not do)? What is the most important lesson you have learned in last 8 years?”
Answer to this was very simple – never keep yourself confined to one group. Looking back I can see how mingling with different sets of people have made me learn so many new things. Mingling with different people not only help you adapt better and easier transition but also paves the way for new set of learning. Understanding others, their viewpoint rather than protesting and being reluctant to change, makes it much harder to adapt to new settings. In last 8 years, I moved to three different places – every place had different language, culture, eating habits, climate, political viewpoint but transitioning to any of the places was never a problem for me.
How unlucky, still successful
Planck was often unlucky in life. His beloved first wife died early in 1909, and the younger of his two sons was killed in the First World War. He also had twin daughters whom he adored. One died giving birth. The surviving twin went to look after the baby and fell in love with her sister’s husband. They married and two years later she died in childbirth. In 1944, when Planck was eighty-five, an Allied bomb fell on his house and he lost everything —papers,diaries, a lifetime of accumulations. The following year his surviving son was caught in a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler and executed.
- A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
Not just this, in 1875 he started working on entropy and put his heart and soul into that work. When in 1891, he published his paper, he found out that the work has already been done by J. Willard Gibbs at Yale. Even with all these difficulties and years of work wasted, Plank went on to contribute tremendously in field of physics specially in black body radiation. He won Nobel prize in 1918 for his work on quantum theory.
I just find it as an inspiring story of how not to stop your work with whatever failures we get on the way. And appreciation of one more physicist that I like.
Book recommendation : A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson